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Enoch Mankayi Sontonga (ca. 1873 - 18 April 1905) was the composer of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God Bless Africa), which has been part of the South African national anthem since 1994. It was also the official African National Congress (ANC) anthem since 1925 and is still the national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia. It was also sung in Zimbabwe and Namibia for many years.Sontonga, a Xhosa, was born in the city of Uitenhage in the Eastern CapeUnder the Union of South Africa and after that under the Republic of South Africa, the old Cape Colony became the Cape of Good Hope Province (though it was commonly known as the Cape Province . Since 1994, it has been broken up into three smaller administ. He trained as a teacher at the Lovedale Institution and subsequently attended the Methodist Mission school in Nancefield, near JohannesburgJohannesburg is the most populous city in South Africa, and the second most populous in Sub-Saharan Africa behind Lagos. Local residents refer to the city as "Jo'burg," or "Jozi. The Zulu name for the city is "Egoli," which means "place of gold" as forty. He was also a choirmasterThis article is about choirs, musical ensembles containing singers. For other meanings of the word, see Choir (disambiguation). A choir is a musical ensemble. The term is generally used to refer to ensembles of singers, but can also refer to a collection and a photographer.
The first verse and chorus of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was composedComposition deals with the bits and pieces that make up things. Structure Chemistry and physics deal with the composition of materials In computer science, a composition is a manner to form data structures with elements where the structure contains data o in 1897Events January 1 Brooklyn, New York merges with New York City. January 4 A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosheri, son-in-law of the Oba of Benin. This leads to a Punitive Expedition against Benin. February 2 The Pennsylvania state capitol is dest and first sung in public in 1899Events January events January 1 End of Spanish rule in Cuba. January 1 Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City. January 3 The first known use of the word " automobile", in an editorial in the New York Times''. January 6 Lord Curzon becomes a vic at the ordination of Reverend Boweni, a Methodist minister. Later the Xhosa poet Samuel Mqhayi wrote a further seven verses.
The song was sung throughout South Africa be several choirs and it quickly became poplular. On 8 January 1912, at the first meeting of the South African Native National Congress (the forerunner of the African National Congress), it was sung after the closing prayer. The ANC adopted it as its official closing anthem in 1925.
For many years the site of the grave of Sontonga was unknown, but it was finally located in the Braamfontein cemetery in the early 1990s. On 24 September 1996, the grave of Sontonga was declared a national monument and a memorial on the site was unveiled by President Nelson Mandela. At the same ceremony the South African Order of Meritorious Service (Gold) was bestowed on Enoch Sontonga posthumously.
He was voted 65th in the Top 100 Great South Africans (see List of South Africans) in 2004.
Sontonga, Enoch
